Clark says CommonDesk is building a craft whiskey cocktail lounge in its downtownlocation.

DALLAS—Coworking spaces are sprouting up acrossthe nation and Dallas is no exception. This type of office structure isallowing businesses of all sizes from the freelancer to thecorporate team to secure space, sometimes within the same coworkingconfines. In this exclusive, Nick Clark, owner andfounder of Dallas-based CommonDesk, recently discussed the next generation of coworkingspaces, trending amenities and how personality packages match upwith customers. GlobeSt.com: Howhave coworking spaces changed since the origination about a decadeago? Clark: It began before the lastrecession as a grassroots movement of indie brands servicing theuprise of the new startup and gig economy. The recession only addedfuel to the growth of coworking as creatives were being laid offand becoming full-time freelancers. Coworking is now becomingsomething much more as billions of dollars of funding pour in forcoworking companies to continue innovating and growing theirservices and spaces. Coworking is now a solution for teams of allsizes that see flexibility as an important real estaterequirement.GlobeSt.com: What are some of the latestamenities trends you're seeing in coworkingenvironments? Clark: Pop-up retailhas become a new trend that some brands are capitalizing on.There's no doubt that everybody will continue to double down on thetypes of amenities installed and offered in coworking spaces.Common Desk wants to make sure amenities continue to enhanceproductivity and the overall workday vibes. For instance, we'verecently started offering a full menu of craft coffee drinks inaddition to the free third-wave drip coffee that has always beenoffered. We are also building out a full-scale craft whiskeycocktail lounge in a downtown location that'll be offeredsoon.GlobeSt.com: What are some of the benefits for tenantsof coworking spaces?Clark: Flexibleterms: Most coworking spaces have membership options ranging frommonth-to-month to one- to two-year terms. These options allowgrowing teams to pick up memberships as they pick up employees.This gives a company the flexibility to ensure it always has theexact amount of office space needed, and a workplace strategy thatsaves the company a ton of money over the course of a fewyears.Community engagement: This is still one of the biggestbenefits of joining a coworking space, especially for smaller teamsand freelancers. These individuals typically join because they arelooking to be a part of a culture and a community. Working out oftheir houses or coffee shops can become lonely after a few longmonths. Common Desk creates and hosts gatherings on a daily basisto bring people together, providing a sense of community.Bettereconomics: Coworking allows teams to leverage common area amenitiesacross everyone in the space, which equates to a huge savings forthe teams accessing the space. For instance, we recently signed adeal with a 40-person team in our Deep Ellum space, located indowntown Dallas. They were looking to take 7,000 square feet oftraditional space in the Dallas area prior to signing. The capitalimprovements they would have paid out of pocket to freshen up thatspace was more than the total membership fees they'll pay to CommonDesk over the course of the next 18 months.GlobeSt.com:What are the latest added benefits forlandlords?Clark: Coworking operators areable to build brand relationships with office customers and are nowowning the data on those tenants. With this kind of data at theirdisposal, coworking operators can curate and customize experiencesand services for these office customers as workplace designevolves, leaving traditional building owners at a disadvantage.However, landlords can partner with coworking companies to buildand scale brand relationships with current tenants and prospects byproviding an increased focus on soft services and the overallworkplace experience.Common Desk is one of the few coworking brandsthat focuses on the landlord as a client. We achieve this throughour partnership structure, which differs drastically from the leasestructure. As a partner to the landlord, we're able to install acoworking facility that is intentionally designed to improve theperformance of the entire building. We believe our coworking andenterprise suites are two additional workplace inventory products,along with custom-term space and spec suites that increase thenumber of options a leasing team is able to offer to prospectivetenants. We call this form of leasing hybrid leasing.In addition tothis, we're also working to build a few new brands (Fiction Coffeeand The Gym of Social Mechanics) to service other amenities in thebuilding such as food and beverage, and fitness centers which willgreatly enhance and expand the scope of building amenities. Thistype of service-level offering further benefits the landlordbecause we're providing added benefits for other building tenantsand visitors, not just coworking customers.